Hurricane Helene has brought about widescale destruction throughout the southeastern U.S. and had caused more than 200 deaths as of October 2, making it one of the deadliest storms to hit the U.S. since Hurricanes Katrina and Maria. President Joe Biden described Hurricane Helene as a “storm of historic proportions.” NLIHC and its Disaster Housing Recovery Coalition (DHRC) have been working to aid partners in areas of the country impacted by Hurricane Helene and will continue to offer advocacy support, technical assistance, and capacity to advocates and organizers helping their communities recover from this catastrophic disaster over the months and years to come, including through a soon-to-be-announced national webinar focusing on Helene’s housing impacts. Over the last week, the DHRC has gathered resources and information about what advocates can do now to assist in the response to Hurricane Helene.
Background
After making landfall in the Big Bend region of Florida on September 26, the storm severely impacted the northern Tampa Bay area and coastal towns including Cedar Key and Perry. Parts of Georgia – including southern and coastal Georgia and the Augusta area – suffered from hurricane force winds that felled trees, damaged roofs, and brought down powerlines. Torrential rains from the storm caused catastrophic flooding in the Atlanta metro area, as well as throughout upstate South Carolina, including in Greensville. Upon reaching western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee, the storm slowed, pouring historic amounts of rain on the area. Preliminary stream gauge data indicate that a “14,000-year flood” occurred in the Asheville, North Carolina area. Multiple smaller towns in western North Carolina have been severely impacted, and portions of western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee remain inaccessible. Search and Rescue personnel are attempting to reach stranded survivors using mule trains, as many roads in the area no longer exist and the steep terrain prevents evacuation by air.
The number of homes damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Helene is not currently available due to the lack of access to disaster-impacted areas. However, as we know from recent disasters, households with the lowest incomes, including people of color, seniors, people with disabilities, people experiencing homelessness, people with limited English proficiency, and other individuals, are often hardest hit, have the fewest resources to address the crisis, and face the longest, steepest paths to recovery. Moreover, many of those households impacted by Hurricane Helene were also impacted by earlier hurricanes over the past several years. Some of these households were making progress in their recovery from those earlier storms and will now have to start again.
Despite the clear need, federal efforts frequently leave survivors without the assistance needed to get back on their feet and their communities less resilient to future disasters. The result is a disaster housing recovery framework that exacerbates and reinforces racial, income, and accessibility inequities at each stage of response and recovery.
As part of its Disaster Housing Recovery, Research, and Resilience initiative (DHR), NLIHC leads the Disaster Housing Recovery Coalition (DHRC) of more than 900 national, state, and local organizations, including many working directly with disaster-impacted communities and with first-hand experience recovering after disasters. We work to ensure that federal disaster recovery efforts reach all impacted households, including disaster survivors with the lowest incomes and those who are most marginalized.
In what follows, the DHRC provides resources to help advocates support housing recovery efforts following Hurricane Helene.
How Can I Get Help for Survivors?
Hotlines: Rescue, Resources, Reunification; Clean Up, Disability Integration
Call 9-1-1 for rescue or other life-threatening situations.
Call 2-1-1 or 1-800-RED-CROSS (1-800-733-2767) for shelters, supplies, and reunification resources.
Reunification: Red Cross, County by County
Call Crisis Cleanup at 844-965-1386 to connect with volunteer organizations who can assist with issues like trees, debris, tarps, and mucking out. Note: Crisis Cleanup cannot assist with social services such as food, clothing, shelter, insurance, or FEMA registration. Artwork to advertise the hotline is available at https://www.crisiscleanup.org/disasters.
Disability & Disaster Hotline - The Partnership for Inclusive Disaster Strategies: Call/Text: +1 (800) 626-4959, Email: [email protected].
How Can I Volunteer?
Do NOT self-deploy! Sign up as a volunteer! Do not travel to impacted areas without coordinating with local and state officials. There are at least 405 roads in North Carolina alone that remain closed due to flooding, trees, and downed power lines. Coordinate your volunteering with any of the groups below:
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- American Red Cross: https://www.redcross.org/volunteer/become-a-volunteer.html
- Sign up to answer calls to Crisis Cleanup hotline. English and Spanish volunteers are badly needed for Crisis Cleanup’s hotline. Information is located here: https://tinyurl.com/ms3nmw53. You must be affiliated with an organization to volunteer. If you are not, contact [email protected].
- National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters (NVOAD)
How Can I Donate?
Cash donations are best. Look for local mutual aid, voluntary organizations, or philanthropies that are setting up disaster relief funds both for immediate needs and for medium/long-term recovery. In addition, one of the biggest issues after a disaster is access to legal assistance and assistance for individuals living with disabilities.
Presented below is a non-exhaustive list of groups accepting monetary donations for Hurricane Helene response across the Southeast:
National Partners
Many members of the NLIHC-led Disaster Housing Recovery Coalition (DHRC) are responding or recovering from the impact of Hurricane Helene. Three members have requested direct donations:
- Partnership for Inclusive Disaster Strategies
- The Partnership is the nation’s disability and disaster hub, led by and for disabled people in the U.S. and across the world. They fill the gaps in the traditional humanitarian response. Disability-led Inclusive Emergency Management is paramount for the equitable future we’re building together. Donations help people with disabilities maintain safety and independence through: Search and Rescue coordination, acquisition and distribution of essential aid and disability-related supplies and equipment, peer support, accessible disaster services, and partner logistical coordination.
- Emergency Legal Responders
- Emergency Legal Responders is a nonprofit organization that helps people faced with disasters solve and prevent legal challenges by providing free, accessible, and easily understandable information and services. They do this through customized legal training for disaster-response service providers, free and accessible legal information slides, and free community legal clinics. They are a women-led organization committed to addressing disparities in disaster assistance that stem from systemic inequities.
- Organizing Resilience
- Organizing Resilience’s Hurricane Helene Response Fund has already committed $110,000 to organizing and mutual aid groups on the ground that are working around the clock to assist communities in Georgia and North Carolina.
North Carolina
- An extensive list of mutual aid and community based organizations responding in North Carolina is available here: https://bit.ly/wncheleneguide
- Legal Aid NC: Support mobile legal clinics, additional staff for hotline intake, pro bono programs preparing cases to volunteer lawyers, and other emerging needs. Your donation can be the lifeline that helps a family rebuild. Donate to Legal Aid NC.
- Disability Partners: With offices in Sylva and Asheville, Disability Partners is a private, non-profit, community-based organization providing independent living services, community education, advocacy, and transitioning to independent living.
South Carolina
- United Way of Greenville: Community Relief Fund
- Feeding the Carolinas: Food Bank coalition covering both North and South Carolina. https://4agc.com/donate/helene
- Able SC is a disability-led, consumer-controlled, community-based nonprofit making South Carolina a national leader in equity and inclusion for all people with disabilities.
- South Carolina Legal Services (SCLS) provides free legal assistance in a wide variety of civil (non-criminal) legal matters to eligible low-income residents of South Carolina. Donate Now - South Carolina Legal Services (sclegal.org)
Georgia
- Walton Options has provided services and resources to help people with all types of disabilities live independently within the community. As a private, non-profit, non-residential Center for Independent Living (CIL), they serve 16 counties in Georgia and 10 counties in South Carolina.
- Georgia Legal Services Program (GLSP) provides civil legal services, free of charge, to people with low incomes and eligible seniors in 154 of Georgia’s 159 counties. Donate Now | Georgia Legal Services Program (givelively.org)
Florida
- The Community Foundation of Sarasota County’s Suncoast Disaster Recovery Fund was established in 2022 in response to Hurricane Ian’s catastrophic impacts across the region. The fund is specifically focused on mental and behavioral health, legal services, case management, children and youth services, and more.
- Pinellas Community Foundation’s Tampa Bay Resiliency Fund helps organizations aiding the most vulnerable of residents impacted by disasters. The Fund is a strategic collaboration of area nonprofits and has been activated to aid organizations helping those suffering after Hurricane Helene.
- Ability1st, the Center for Independent Living of North Florida, is a community-based nonprofit organization that provides services to persons with varying disabilities.
- The Center for Independent Living of North Central Florida (CILNCF) is a locally controlled, consumer driven, community based, non-residential, 501(C)3 private not-for-profit organization headquartered in Gainesville, Florida. The CILNCF serves 16 counties in the North Central Florida region.
- Legal Services of North Florida (LSNF) provides representation to low-income and vulnerable individuals in civil matters only.
- Bay Area Legal Services provides free civil legal help to eligible residents of their five-county service area in Tampa Bay, and seniors and veterans across Florida.